The genial Justice: Robert H. Jackson.

• Author: Marsh, James M.
• Position: Testimonial

Robert H. Jackson was a distinguished Supreme Court justice, but he also possessed an irreverent wit and contagious charm. These human and personal attributes inspired fond and enduring respect among those who had the good fortune to know him or to work for him as a law clerk.

"The best thing about these Washington parties is that you see, for a few minutes, a lot of people with whom a few minutes is enough!" The speaker was Justice Robert H. Jackson, and the occasion was the last judicial ball held in the White House before reconstruction undertaken in 1948. His remark was typical of the humor which the justice produced spontaneously and most willingly. Years later Sidney Alderman was to recall in the memorial resolution he presented to the Court that Justice Jackson's "charms of personality, his engaging humor, his conversational and anecdotal gifts, and his frank and forthright manner of expression endeared him to all."

Justice Jackson was well known as a skillful trial lawyer, an outstanding appellate advocate, a compelling writer, a star exponent of the New Deal, a lawyer's judge, a dedicated prosecutor of war crimes--and he was all of these. Many excellent articles have discussed these accomplishments, but none has really captured the twinkle in his eye, the warm smile, the quick wit, or the common touch--his most personal and personable characteristics. Almost twenty-five years ago I was Justice Jackson's law clerk, and I still recall not only his humor but his ability to share it. Some of the best examples of his wit cannot be used, and there may be better anecdotes known to others. But these are mine, and at least, after all these years, I have gotten them down on paper.

The idea for this article was probably born during the last days of my clerkship. To mark the occasion of my departure, Justice Jackson had a small cocktail party for the other law clerks and secretaries. Bruce Griswold, then law clerk to Justice Burton and now a Cleveland lawyer, remarked to the justice that he had never heard of any similar affair before and inquired just why he was having the party. Quickly the Justice replied, "Bruce, if you had worked with the fellow every day for two years and then he finally decided to go back to Philadelphia, don't you think that you would have some sort of celebration, too?"

I had my first real glimpse of the justice's sense of humor the very first day I reported for work at the Court, and the joke was on him. He was explaining to me that the filing system he and his secretary, Elsie Douglas, had developed would make it certain that all of us would always know where each current case file was at all times. Having made this point, he turned to Mrs. Douglas and said, "Elsie, by the way, what's wrong with this filing system anyway?" Mrs. Douglas replied, with a straight face, "In a word, Mr. Justice--you!" I later learned the accuracy of Elsie's appraisal and the impossibility of imposing sanctions.

WASHINGTON LIFE WAS SUBJECT OF JACKSON'S BARBS

Nothing in Washington escaped his attention, including the White House remodeling project much in the news in the late forties and early fifties. In 1953 the Alfalfa Club selected Justice Jackson as its "presidential nominee," a candidate whose only function was to address the society's "national convention." On that occasion he said that General Edgerton, a former Alfalfa candidate who supervised the reconstruction job, was the only Alfalfa nominee who actually got into the White House, and that once he got in he began selling the White House brick by brick (which was precisely what the official souvenir selling project involved). After all, the justice said, "that is more democratic than to sell it in one parcel." Finally, he said, Edgerton was "the only occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in our memory to leave the White House in better condition than he found it."

The White House and the presidency were not the only aspects of Washington life to receive Justice Jackson's barbs. One of his most often quoted remarks--"I do not always understand the opinions of this Court"--struck a responsive note with countless lawyers and lower court judges.

Similarly, in an opening...